The Past That Shapes Our Future
by castlefan83
Summary: An alternate version of what Daryl did before the apocalypse and how it has shaped his life and affects his potential relationship with Beth. This will eventually turn into a Daryl/Beth paring and will eventually have other characters. M Rating is for language and eventual smut.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Anything that has happened on the show so far or is in the comics is fair game. So please read at your own risk if you are worried about spoilers of any kind. While I think "Still" was a great episode I was still disappointed a little bit to find out that Daryl was just basically a nobody before the apocalypse. No significant other, no kids, no job…nothing. While Norman says the revelation of Daryl's past is so powerful I would like to try and put my own version into words. Therefore I give you this fanfic. I make no promises on updates and I don't even know how long this will be. However with that said I do have a plan and the way this season is panning out I'm gonna need something to get me through the summer. So here is my version of how I wanted things to go while they were talking on the porch of the moonshine house. Reviews are always appreciated whether good or bad._

_Disclaimer: In no way, shape or form do I own The Walking Dead or any of the characters. I am simply borrowing them for my own amusement._

* * *

"Wanna know what I did fore shit hit the fan?" said Daryl in a much calmer voice that he had used all day.

Beth sat calmly and smiled as she let the alcohol flow through her system. Giving him a little smile she said, "It would clear up the bets all of us kids have made on what you did before."

His eyes shot up to meet hers, "What are you kids doin' placing bets on my life."

"No, not on your life, just on what you did before," she said shaking her head like he was being ridiculous.

He shrugged his shoulders and decided to just get on with his story. Beth was drunk anyways and more than likely wouldn't remember much about what he was gonna say once the moonshine had a chance to leave her system. "Bout a year fore the world went south I did nothing, complete waste of space…"

"WAIT!" Beth yelled so loud that Daryl had to motion for her to shut up in order to avoid attracting more walkers. Beth flinched slightly and then in a quieter voice continued, "You mean to tell me that Lizzie won the bet? What the hell!"

"Well if someone would quit interrupting and let me finish the goddamn story they'd find out I was just gettin' started."

She quickly sat back and motioned for him to continue.

He shook his head, _Kids_, he thought to himself. Although Beth really was no longer a little kid anymore. In the time that he'd know her she'd grown up to be a young woman. He dismissed the thought and continued on with his story. He didn't really want to relive his life in the past, but he figured someone else should know who he was. "Had no job, no real desire to do anything. Merle and I would go out get drunk, get high, start fights, try and hit on women had no right hitting on." He paused to make sure Beth was still paying attention. She was looking at him shaking her head. "This is my story little girl you don't get to judge."

She held up her hands in surrender and once again let him continue.

"One night went out to this bar, had a few drinks, tried to find any women that would go home with us. We were getting ready to leave and this crowd of women came in. You could tell they were not regulars, dressed up all fancy, looking completely out of place. Sat down at a table. Merle started to walk over towards them and started hittin' on them. Didn't last very long, when he started walking back over towards me I could see he was pissed and they're watching him leave laughing their pretty little asses off. I happened to catch one of the women's eye as she laughed along with her friends. I was drunk enough that I thought we had a moment so as Merle was coming back to where we were I got up and walked over towards the women."

"Yeah I'm sure this is going to end well, " Beth murmured.

After a moment Daryl continued. "I don't remember much, but from what I'm told I was trying to get overly friendly with the girl."

"Wait what do you mean from what you're told? You were there," Beth said with a confused look on her face.

"Guess she had enough cause she decked me one good. Apparently I was out a good couple of hours. When I came to Merle wanted me to press charges against the stupid bitch, but I had enough sense knocked into me to know charges would never fly for a minute. Anyways by the time I came to the women were gone. I couldn't get her out of my head. No one had ever had enough balls to knock me on my ass yet here's this woman who didn't even think twice before putting me in my place. I went back the next week to see if by some off chance she'd show up again."

"So what you went back for more? And I'm sure you were really shocked when she wasn't there?" Beth said shaking her head.

"I was shocked…cause she was there….alone."

Beth's jaw visibly dropped at this revelation. "Wait, a woman has to deck you so you'll leave her alone and then she shows up the next week? She must not have been a very smart woman."

Daryl gave a little chuckle, "Her name was Dria and she was a doctor." He looked over to see that Beth was still in a state of shock over this information. He liked the fact that he could still surprise people. "She'd come back on the off chance I'd be there again. Spent the rest of the night talkin' 'bout anything and everything. " He looked up to see that Beth had one of those sappy love faces that women got when they thought something was romantic.

She noticed he had stopped, but she needed him to finish the story, "It's just like out of one of those romance movies. Please go on."

"Yeah well….I never told Merle anything about her…figured he'd go all bat shit crazy on me cause she was just another snobby bitch just slumming it for a while. Six months later when I moved out I was right about him going bat shit…." Daryl remembered that situation all too well just like it was yesterday.

_***Flashback***_

"_Still don't think you need to be here when I tell him Dria", Daryl said as they got out of her SUV and walked up to his home. "Merle's gonna be a real dick about this whole thing and he's not gonna sugar coat it."_

"_Daryl," she said grabbing his arm and pulling him to a stop. She placed a hand on his cheek, "It's going to be okay. We'll grab your things and then we'll go home okay?"_

_He leaned in a kissed her gently. "What would I do without you?"_

"_You'll never have to find out," Dria said as she grabbed his hand and they walked into the lion's den._

_Thirty minutes later they were walking out with the last box as Merle stood on the doorstep yelling after them, "You're leavin' your own blood for a whore! She's puttin' lies in your head and you're lettin' her. Amazing what a somewhat pretty face and a decent pair of tits can do."_

_Daryl tried to turn around but Dria stopped him, "Just ignore him. It's not worth it."_

_They got in the vehicle and left, but not before Merle had started throwing beer bottles and cursing up an even bigger storm._

_***End Flashback***_

"So tell me more," Beth said. "I like learning about a person's past. It shows how they were shaped into the person they are today."

"You always wanna see the good in people girl."

"It still exists, you just have to look a little harder these days to find it. Now you were saying?" Beth said to try and get him to start talking again.

"Month after the move found out she was knocked up. She was thrilled. I panicked. I came from a messed up family, didn't know how in the hell to raise a kid. But eventually came round knowing that we'd be raising it together and that if I fucked up she'd knock me upside the head," he said with a small smile on his lips. "Got myself a job working security at the local university. Needed to help provide for my family rather than sit around doin' nothing. She was round six or seven months when it happened."

Beth was clinging to every word as he got to the part of the story she had been waiting to hear.

He paused for a moment and then continued on, "The day things went down I was at work. People just started running around like crazy screaming about how this person had just bitten them. I lost two of my guys in the first ten minutes of the craziness. After 'bout five more minutes I said to hell with it and ran for my bike. I ran into a couple of people covered in blood and the bastards tried to bite me. Tried to push 'em out of the way, but they just kept on coming. I finally just took out my gun and shot them in the arm. It was like it didn't even faze them. So I went for the chest next. Still nothin'. Finally I put a bullet between their eyes and that seemed to stop 'em in their tracks."

Beth was memorized. She was sure that no one had ever heard Daryl talk so much about his life before all of this. She didn't necessarily like where the story was going, but she continued to listen.

"I started to head for the hospital, but then remembered that she'd had the day off, so I turned back around and headed for the house." He stopped talking as he relived the moment he got home…..

_***Flashback***_

_He could see bodies scattered all around the neighborhood. Many were getting back up. People were running around screaming, packing items into vehicles and attempting to flee. As he pulled into their driveway it drew the attention of some of the people shuffling around and they started to head in his direction. Getting off his bike he was surprised to see Merle running out the front door._

"_Where's Dria?" Daryl yelled. He tried to run past his brother, but Merle grabbed him and wouldn't let him pass._

"_You don't wanna go in there little brother. You don't need to see that," Merle said calmly._

"_What the fuck you mean I don't want to go in there? That's my girl in there!"_

"_Not anymore," Merle said pushing Daryl towards the car he had waiting. "Gotta go little brother," he said shoving Daryl in the vehicle and then getting in himself just seconds before people started throwing themselves against the vehicle_

_***End of Flashback***_

"So what happened next?" Beth asked, knowing what the answer was but thinking that he'd come this far he just needed to get it out there.

Shaking himself from his memories he shrugged, "Merle caught me outside our house, she was dead."

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A/N: I need thoughts…is this complete crap or should I just continue and let's see what happens? Let me know.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: So I've had this chapter partially finished on my computer for weeks, but I finally just sat down and finished this chapter tonight. I felt like I had to get something out there. This story is going to start going the way of AU. There will be no burning down houses cause I keep seeing Smokey the Bear shaking his finger at Daryl and Beth going "You were supposed to prevent them not start them?"_

_Disclaimer: As always I don't own any of it. Just borrowing them._

* * *

Beth was motionless. She knew her face showed the utter shock of his past. Looking over at him she noticed that he was closing himself off to the pain his story had caused. "There was nothing you could have done….."

"I could've saved her!" He yelled at Beth not caring what kind of attention he drew, " I could've saved them both….."

Beth always knew that there was more to Daryl, but what he'd revealed was more than she could have ever have imagined. She got up from where she sat and after taking a moment to steady herself. The alcohol in her system finally starting to really wreak havoc on her system she stumbled over to Daryl and placed herself in his lap. He didn't even have time to react before she placed her hands on his face and looked straight into his eyes. "It was not your fault Daryl Dixon. You are a good man and don't you ever let anyone else tell you differently. Understood?"

He looked into her eyes and simply nodded.

"Good" she said trying to get up so quickly she started to fall backwards and flail her arms. He was up automatically and grabbed her around the waist before she could fall.

"Woah there girl. I'm amazed you're still standing. I figured a few swigs of shine and you'd be out cold.

"Yeah well maybe it's just cause I'm that good," she said as he started to direct her inside.

"Yeah well you ain't gonna be feeling that good in the morning." He said placing her in the chair.

She was fading fast. The moonshine was hitting her in full force now and she kind of wished that she had paced herself. There was no place for her to go in this world if she got alcohol poisoning. Looking up Daryl as she started to close her eyes, "See Mr. Dixon….you are the last man standing."

He stared down at her face with a look of fear. He refused to be the last man standing. He refused to be alone. In that moment he realized that this girl was all he had left and he would protect her at any cost.

-B/D-

Beth didn't want to move. She could hear Daryl moving around the room, but she was hoping that if she pretended to still be asleep he'd just let her sleep this one off. Everything hurt. She was fairly confident that sometime during the night she had thrown up the contents of her stomach over the side of the chair. Movement at this point might not be the best course of action.

"Girl we need to get going'" he said giving her shoulder a nudge. He didn't want to wake her, she looked so peaceful when she slept. More than a couple times in the night he caught himself looking over at her wondering "How?" How could the world do this to someone as pure and innocent as this girl? How could so much be taken from her and yet she still has hope that there are still good people out there? She caused him to question things he thought he knew with certainty. She stirred feelings in him that he'd buried deep. Feelings that he didn't want to admit. But his biggest question was how in the world has she survived this long? He knew the answer to that though…she had been sheltered. At Hershel's farm they had sheltered her especially with her suicidal tendencies. At the prison she'd always been helping with Lil' Asskicker or been helping with chores. She'd never been allowed to go on runs, take care of fence duty. She'd never actually been allowed to go outside the gates. He'd decided that she needed to learn how to survive on her own. Not that he was planning on leaving, but if anything were to happen he wanted her to have a fighting chance in this fucked up world. She seemed to handle herself pretty well with the walkers in the forest and the country club. For someone who really was never allowed around walkers she showed real promise.

Beth stirred in the chair, "Just five more minutes….."

"Sorry girl. We're burning daylight. We've gotta get moving. Maybe find a few things along the way. It's gonna start to get colder one of these days….need to find a few more clothes. Maybe if we're lucky find you some aspirin for your situation," he said with a small chuckle knowing that by the time they found something it would be too late for it to help her current situation.

She struggled to get in a sitting position, "Don't start with me…..ohhh….." grabbing her head and laying back down. "Hey Daryl…"

"Yeah?"

"Don't ever let me drink again…..okay…."

"You keep on saying you're not a kid….I can't make decisions like that for you."

"I hate you," she said reaching a hand out for help.

He reached down and grabbed her hand to help her up, "No you don't." smiling as he brought her to her feet.

She was still a little wobbly, but he placed his hands on her hips to try and help her stay upright. Once she was still she looked up at him with eyes that could bring any man to his knees. Daryl was captivated for a moment before he let go of her and took a step back. _'Don't go there Dixon'_ his subconscious said to him. He continued his backward retreat, grabbing his bow, until he walked out the door mumbling something about meeting her outside in a few, leaving Beth more than a little confused about what in the world just happened. She started to sway back and forth. The room wouldn't stop spinning. She stumbled over to the door frame and leaned heavily against it for support. She looked out in the yard to see Daryl waiting for her. _Oh this is going to suck_, she thought as she started to walk down the stairs towards him.

* * *

_A/N: This is short I know, and it's kind of a filler chapter. Not much happened. I am going to start updating more frequently. My goal is for weekly…we'll have to see how things go._


End file.
